Tuesday, 18 May 2010

Here is one of a series of lists over the next couple months (when I am home that is) that is recently received (or soon to be received) consigned items. I will try to keep these to their proper scheduled times, but some my vary so don't be to surprised if a list shows up off schedule.Please contact me as soon as possible on these as I will only be home for today and tomorrow (I have been on a home 2 days gone 5 or 6 day schedule lately and will be through at least the end of May, unfortunately). Feel free to leave a message (phone is best while I am here e-mail on the days I am gone might be better as there is a chance I may be able to borrow a computer and check those while gone). I should be back home by Tuesday evening next week if you want to talk too me after this Thursday morning (I will be leaving about 10AM).

DIMMITT, Texas: (H3.7). Found 1942, recognized as distinct fall in 1950. Tkw = about 200kg.This is a small cut fragment that has been coated (lacquer?) to help bring out the structure and chondrules (that usually are nearly invisible in this stuff). This is definitely Dimmitt and contrasts distinctly different in appearance from the Tulia listed below (these would make a good pair - showing the real difference between these long confused meteorites). 9.6 gram cut fragment - 30mm x 15mm x 7mm - $15

FAUCETT, Missouri: (H5). Found 1966. Tkw = 100 kilograms.Here is a nice little 1/2 slice (one cut edge remainder is mostly crusted but part looks like it may be a natural break) of this now difficult to obtain meteorite. I once had quite a bit of this, but this is the first piece I have had in a number of years now. 9.6 gram slice - 33mm x 21mm x 4mm - $45

JILIN, China: (H5). Fell March 1976. Tkw = 4 tons.Here are a couple slices of this huge fall. The largest recovered piece was 1770 kilograms and is still, I believe, the largest single stone meteorite in the world. The smaller piece here is likely an earlier recovery as it is lighter in color and has a bit fresher crust. The larger piece though shows some shock features and hints of breccia clasts.a) 4.6 gram slice - 24mm x 24mm x 2mm - $25b) 12.8 gram slice - 40mm x 35mm x 3mm - $60

NADIABONDI, Burkina-Faso, Africa: (H5). Fell July 27, 1956. Tkw = 8.165 kilograms.I know there has been a bit of controversy over what is really this fall and misidentified pieces of Gao. This piece does have a different appearance than most of the Gaos I have seen. This is far fresher (showing a light matrix with only a light amount of overall brown staining whereas most Gaos are quite brown) and this has a very uniform H5 texture (whereas Gaos are brecciated and usually show at least some fragmentation, even in fairly small specimens). Though it would be impossible to be absolutely certain (with out detailed research lab analysis) that this is not simply a mislabeled Gao, I am quite comfortable calling it a real Nadiabondi specimen. 7.2 gram end piece - 26mm x 21mm x 6mm - $35

NWA (065): (H5). Found August 6, 2000. Tkw = 5094 grams.This is different looking stuff. It is very porous (it likely suffered little shock in its life) looking more like a piece of sandstone (though one that has a good number of obvious chondrules) than a meteorite at first glance. It has weathered some such that it has an interesting reddish-brown color (but still shows a fair amount of metal. These are nearly complete slices. They each have one 35mm cut edge with the remainder being natural.a) 18.4 gram slice - 50mm x 35mm x 5mm - $35b) 25.4 gram slice - 53mm x 37mm x 6mm - $48

NWA (096): (H3.8). Found summer 2000. Tkw = 2510 grams.Wow. This one is for breccia collectors. It is lightly weathered (somewhat brown stained over all but still shows lots of metal). It has several obvious lighter clasts in a slightly darker matrix. This also has a couple 5mm to 8mm sized dark inclusions (shock melt pockets?). The larger one even appears to have some vesicles! 14.4 gram slice - 43mm x 27mm x 4.5mm - $70

THUATHE, Lesotho: (H4/5). Fell July 21, 2002. Tkw = about 30 kilograms.This is a nice complete stone that only shows a couple late fall chipped areas (around 5x5mm and 5x9mm). The remainder is covered with black crust. Though there are a couple more similar sized areas to the above chips that are coated with a medium level secondary crust, the bulk of this stone has well developed crust - fairly rare for stones of this fall. 6.8 gram individual - 22mm x 22mm x 22mm - $120

TULIA (a), Texas: (H5). Found 1917. Tkw = 77+ kilograms.The tag says (H3-4) but this is wrong. A piece of (the then unrecognized but close by) Dimmitt meteorite was mixed up with real Tulia when the analysis was done. This is obviously not a piece of Dimmitt. This shows lots of metal and troilite in a dark (almost black) matrix. Dimmitts are more dark brown than black, show more abundant chondrules (if you look carefully) and very little metal. 16.3 gram slice - 42mm x 20mm x 5mm - $30

WHETSTONE MOUNTAINS, Arizona: (H5), breccia. Fell June 23, 2009. Tkw = 2.14 kilograms.This piece was put on display for a special event (Arizona Meteorite Exhibition) at the U of A on January 30, 2010. Sample of all known Arizona meteorites were put on display for that one evening (which I, unfortunately, missed as this was my first day of the Tucson show and very busy). This is a beautiful slice that clearly shows two different lithologies. It is highly polished on both sides and has fresh black crust along about 30% of its edge (other parts look to be natural break). This piece also comes with the info card it was displayed with during the exhibition. 6.88 gram slice - 30mm x 23mm x 3.5mm - $1050

MOUNT EDGERTON, Australia: (anomalous Aubrite). Found 1941. Tkw = 22+ kilograms.This is another item I used to have quite a bit of (but around 15 or 20 years ago) but have not seen in quite awhile. This is a natural blocky fragment of enstatite. It is covered by a nice, natural, orange patina (with only one tiny sub-millimeter fresh break hidden in a crevice) and shows a few almost black patches of iron. 2.9 gram fragment - 17mm x 10mm x 10mm - $75

Tuesday, 4 May 2010

Dear Collectors,Here is an e-mail version of my recently mailed paper list (those of you on my mailing list should be receiving this today). I have been out of touch a lot as I have been a bit pre-occupied with other issues lately. My mother just passed away after a difficult battle with cancer (as if there really is any other kind). Last minutes visiting and now dealing with cleaning up an estate (my second in the last few months now - I lost my Aunt in December and got done with her estate mere days before leaving for the Tucson show) has left little time for the usual stuff lately. This list (that should have gone out a couple weeks ago) may seem a bit "thrown together" because it kind of is. I generally have a lot of things sitting around in various stages of readiness to sell. Unfortunately I found, on closer inspection, that many were not as ready as I had imagined (and I had no time to get them ready either). Anyway, I think that I was able to pull together a fairly nice selection of things (mostly named no less!) to offer none the less. Please be patient if you do not hear back form me right away if you call (please: leave a message if I don't answer. I will set aside things you ask for and call back as soon as I can). I will be needing to make many trips to Denver over the next couple months so there may be some delays in my usual response times from time to time. But I will respond when I get the chance (and ship specimens as soon as possible).

CAMPO DEL CIELO: Argentina: Coarse octahedrite (IAB).I generally try to have a selection of the various major types of meteorites on my lists, but could not come up with anything for an iron this time. Linda came up with it for me. She asked if I had ever offered any of my Campo nuggets. I have been offering them for years at shows (where they have proven to be very popular) but I don't recall ever putting them on a list to collectors. These are shiny, angular metal chunks that are created by freezing a large Campo piece in liquid nitrogen and then breaking it apart. It generally breaks apart along the crystal structure making for an unnatural but interesting quasi - 3D view of Widmanstatten (Thomson) structure (I say quasi as this meteorite's structure is coarse enough to not show real clear in these relatively small pieces). These have also been tumbled to remove sharp edges. Not natural, but these make great little carry in your pocket or gift specimens. I also have these as pendants. These have a small loop soldered to them so they can be easily hung on a chain for wearing.1) Fragments "as formed":a) 4.1 grams - 12mm x 8mm x 5mm - $4.00b) 8.3 grams - 22mm x 12mm x 6mm - $8.00c) 15.1 grams - 25mm x 13mm x 11mm - $15.00d) 25.2 grams - 26mm x 18mm x 15mm - $23.00e) 34.7 grams - 25mm x 25mm x 14mm - $30.002) Pendants:a) about 3grams (about 15mm x 10mm x 6mm) - $5.00b) about 6 grams (about 17mm x 13mm x 10mm) - $10.00c) 14.7 grams - 20mm x 14mm x 13mm - $20.00d) 26.9 grams - 28mm x 23mm x 13mm - $30.00

HOWE, Texas: (H5). Found 1938. Tkw = 8.63kg.A single stone was recovered, as reported by A.D. Nininger in 1940. Most of this (about 7.2kg according to my old Catalogue of Meteorites) ended up in museum and research institute collections. These few pieces (and I do mean few - I have only a little over 100g total of this available) were cut from a specimen in the Monig Collection at TCU. I have been told that there are no intentions to cut any more of this, so get it while you can. This is somewhat weathered material (has some cracks) but is still fresh enough to show lots of fine metal grains in a dark gray/ green matrix.1) Slices:a) 4.6 grams - 26mm x 17mm x 4mm - $37.00b) 10.3 grams - 36mm x 19mm x 5mm - $82.00c) 18.7 grams - 50mm x 27mm x 5mm - $145.00d) 23.3 grams - 52mm x 30mm x 5mm - $175.00

JUANCHENGE, China: (H5). Fell February 15, 1997. Tkw = about 100 kilograms.This is one of those super popular "hammer stones" as one piece of this fall fell through a roof and landed in a pot on a stove. I thought all I had were broken fragments of this remaining. I came across a small bag of beautiful individuals while doing inventory in December. Actually, they were individuals that had adhering dirt and such until Mike Martinez did a truly wonderful job of giving them a GENTLE air blasting for me (it is very easy to mess up a good stone by over doing this or using the wrong cleaning material). These are all complete (there are some very minor natural dings and areas of secondary crust on some) stones showing fresh fully textured (this is a big part of the proper cleaning) black fusion crust.1) Complete individuals:a) 4.0 grams - 15mm x 14mm x 10mm - $20.00b) 8.5 grams - 22mm x 17mm x 12mm - $40.00c) 16.1 grams - 24mm x 20mm x 15mm - $75.00d) 25.0 grams - 31mm x 23mm x 18mm - $110.00

NWA (2970): (H6). Found before September 2005. Tkw = several hundred kilos ?.This is some stuff I have had sitting in a couple buckets for many years. Adam Hupe and I both got a good amount of this when we both decided to buy up fairly large quantities of "cheap" Moroccan stuff while it could still be acquired. We noticed that a bunch of the boxes we got looked to be the same material. Cutting open numerous pieces (along with the confirmation from the seller that it did come from one source and likely one strewn field) also showed that it was all likely one fall. Later research showed that it was all an (H6) regolith breccia. Unfortunately, this is fairly weathered stuff (most pieces are relatively solid but fairly cracked, the reason I have not cut any yet, but I do hope to offer some cut pieces of this in the future), but it is very cheap for a studied meteorite. Definitely not real pretty, but quite interesting scientifically.1) Fragments as found:a) 21.0 grams - 38mm x 27mm x 16mm - $5.00b) 48.5 grams - 50mm x 30mm x 17mm - $10.00c) 111.5 grams - 43mm x 41mm x 29mm - $22.00d) 205.4 grams - 77mm x 52mm x 26mm - $40.00e) 476.5 grams - 90mm x 75mm x 40mm - $90.00f) 857.0 grams - 110mm x 80mm x 80mm - $150.00g) 1365.6 grams - 120mm x 110mm x 60mm - $225.00

ZAG, Morocco: (H3-6). Fell August 4 or 5, 1998. Tkw = about 175kg.I got these wonderful pieces from Al Mitterling during the last Denver show. He had been cutting up a couple blocks and brought slices for me to sell on consignment (I ended up buying them). These are very nice. Most (larger specimens in particular) show both the light (H6) and dark (H3) textures to varying degrees. Many of these pieces also have some black fusion crust along parts of their edge as well. This is very special stuff scientifically. It is the second meteorite (after Monahans, Texas which fell in March of 1998) that was found to contain crystals of Halite (salt) that show liquid water was present at some point on the parent body of these meteorites. A highly important meteorite at a really low price.1) Part slices:a) 8.4 grams - 32mm x 17mm x 4mm - $21.00b) 12.9 grams - 31mm x 24mm x 4mm - $32.00c) 26.3 grams - 41mm x 33mm x 6mm - $65.00d) 54.8 grams - 64mm x 56mm x 5mm - $130.00e) 89.1 grams - 92mm x 70mm x 4mm - $200.00

NWA (2824): (Diogenite, Ibitira parent body). Found 2005. Tkw = 485 grams.This was one that took some work to even show it really was a meteorite. It was a smooth, rounded dark gray/brown lump that even showed a few milky white blobs (that really looked like quartz) on its exterior. I hacked (hard to get a good smooth cut with too small of a saw while holding, by hand, such a round rock) a piece off and sent it off for a look. It did turn out to be a meteorite! It took many years to nail down just what it was though. It is primarily orthopyoroxene (making it a "Diogenite") , but yet the rest of its chemistry (including the large plagioclase crystals - the things that superficially looked like quartz) was all wrong for this being a diogenite. Oxygen isotope work was eventually done on this strange rock. It revealed that its origin was not Vesta but likely from the same parent body as the strange vesiculated Ibitira "eucrite". Further work revealed that this also contains (though rare) vesicles that are lined with vapor phase deposited mineral crystals.1) Slices:a) .12 grams - 7mm x 4mm x 1.5mm - $20.00b) .25 grams - 9mm x 7.5mm x 1mm - $40.00c) .56 grams - 13mm x 8mm x 1.5mm - $85.00d) 1.2 grams - 15mm x 15mm x 1.5mm - $180.00e) 2.4 grams - 32mm x 17mm x 1.5mm - $400.00 - shows light through 2 plagioclase crystals!f) 4.8 grams - 37mm x 28mm x 1.5mm - $700.00g) 9.9 grams - 63mm x 42mm x 1.5mm - $1350.00h) 13.4 grams - 55mm x 52mm x 1.5mm - $1900.00 - complete, several light passing crystals!

Please include postage: a couple dollars on small U.S. orders and $10 on large items for first class (insurance is extra, if desired). On small overseas orders, $3 to $5 is generally plenty (I'll have to custom figure the rate for large items). Registration is also recommended on more valuable overseas shipments - an extra $12.00.If you are sending a fax, simply begin transmitting when my line is answered. My fax will turn on automatically to receive (or I will start it if I answer) when you begin transmitting.